Boothbay Selectman Steve Lewis said for years he had heard rumors that the Lincoln County Commissioners received full-time healthcare benefits.

The rumors turned out to be true.

The three Lincoln County Commissioners, Hamilton Meserve, Mary Trescot and William Blodgett are elected officials that meet twice a month. They receive the same benefits as full-time employees of Lincoln County, which includes family health coverage. After a commissioner has served 10 years, they become eligible for free coverage for life once they reach retirement age.

Meserve, who represents the towns of the Boothbay region, and County Administrator John O'Connell, were asked to attend the Boothbay selectmen meeting February 2. Selectman Lewis inquired why the county commissioners receive such “extravagant benefits.”

Merserve said the benefits are generous, but the commissioners don't get to decide on their benefits or salaries, the Lincoln County Advisory Budget Committee does.

The budget committee is made up of eight selectmen representing the towns of Lincoln County. Each year the committee reviews the contractual services for the county commissioners' budget. Edgecomb Selectman Stewart Smith is currently on the budget committee. He said he was never aware of the health benefits the commissioners received. Neither were past committee members, Selectmen Chuck Cunningham and Steve Ham.

The commissioners’ health insurance costs do not appear as a line item in the county budget. It's uncertain whether leaving the costs hidden was intentional, but O'Connell said it's merely an accounting flaw.

“We haven't broken it out because of limitations in our accounting system, which actually this year is being addressed,” O'Connell said. “It's not a secret. It just hasn't been broken out. We assumed people knew we treated the commissioners as employees, which obviously was perhaps not accurate.”

Currently, the town of Boothbay is the highest assessed property valuation in Lincoln County, which amounts to 13.14 percent of property taxes paid to the county. The commissioners’ costs for contractual services was $58,100 in 2013, and the county requested $58,300 for fiscal year 2014.

Selectman Lewis did math during the meeting.

“Potentially, if you had three commissioners with families, we're looking at roughly $58,000 in cost,” Lewis said. “With Boothbay's portion, it would cost more than $7,500 a year just for health insurance for the commissioners.”

According to O'Connell, not all the commissioners are using the health insurance options, which prompted Lewis to quip “what a perfect time to change it, because two of you aren't affected by it.”

Both Meserve and O'Connell suggested the board of selectmen write a letter to the budget advisory committee, and in the meantime, the commissioners’ office will try to make their budget system more transparent.

“I understand there is an advisory committee, but I don't think the information is quite as transparent as it needs to be for the advisory committee to make valid and educated decisions,” Selectman Dale Harmon said. “I don't think there is a town in Lincoln County that hasn't fought to keep their employees in some kind of healthcare and is struggling to do so.

“This leaves a little bit of a bad taste in my own mouth.”